The present invention relates to the production of oxy-metallo-organic polymers, and is particularly concerned with a process for producing oxy-alkoxy polymers of aluminum, titanium or zirconium, or mixtures thereof, as intermediates or precursors for conversion thereof to ceramics, fibers and films.
Polymers such as polycarbosilanes and polysilanes are now considered as precursors to covalent ceramics, such as silicon carbide and silicon nitride. Also, polymers with silicon-oxygen backbones, the silicones, are well known.
The article of G. Carturan, V. Gottardi, and M. Graziani, "Physical and Chemical Evolutions Occurring in Glass Formation from Alkoxides of Silicon, Aluminum and Sodium," J. Non-Crystalline Solids 29, 41-48 (1978), discloses dissolving the alkoxides Si(OEt).sub.4, Al(OsBu).sub.3 and NaOCH.sub.3, employing a major proportion of silicon ethoxide, in an ethanol-methanol solvent mixture and maintaining the mixture at reflux temperature, of the order of about 75.degree. C. The result is an undistillable oil which turns to a gel on standing in air, by the hydrolysis of alkoxide groups with air and moisture. Upon heating the gel to temperature up to about 650.degree. C., the gel was transformed to a glass. The glass was obtained without the formation of crystalline solids.
The article of D. C. Bradley and M. M. Faktor, "The Pyrolysis of Metal Alkoxides," Trans. Farad. Soc. 55, 2117 (1959) discloses the hydrolytic decomposition of zirconium tetra tert. - amyloxide at 218.degree. C. to zirconium oxide. When employing tertiary organic alkoxides, neither intermediate oxy-alkoxides nor polymers were obtainable.